Special ReportsIn-depth feature stories and other projects from the Staten Island Advance

Reflections on heroes, horrors

Island firehouses mark 9/11 with quiet reflection -- and few visitors

Sunday, September 12,
2004

By KACEY SEMLER, GLENN NYBACK and TIM GRAY

The bright red bay doors of Rescue Co. 5 in Concord were open yesterday morning. Two firetrucks were idling across Clove Road in a parking lot. Well-worn bunker gear hung from a rack, while several pairs of black boots sat casually on the floor.

It was 8:45 a.m., and about 20 firefighters inside were getting ready, not for a fire or rescue, but for a solemn moment shared by thousands of other firefighters in the city.

At 8:46 a.m., without so much as a word, the bells of the neighboring St. Slyvester's R.C. Church, rang and the burly firefighters stood at attention, some with their heads bowed, as they silently remembered the morning of Sept. 11 -- when they lost 11 members of their company in the terrorist attacks.

It was 8:46 a.m. when a hijacked airliner crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

In addition to Rescue Co. 5, firehouses throughout the city recollected this moment -- rolling all department apparatus onto the street in front of buildings where a moment of silence was recognized and a prayer was read by the company officer.

Moments of silence also were held at 9:03 a.m., when the South Tower was hit by a second hijacked airliner; at 9:59 a.m., when the South Tower fell, and at 10:29 a.m., when the North Tower collapsed.

At firehouses visited by the Advance, firefighters seemed to want to keep to themselves -- and keep their remembrances to themselves. Many were too somber to comment.

Outside Engine Co. 152 in Rosebank, a single flower bouquet was placed outside the firehouse. Firefighters kept the bay closed during the afternoon.

At Engine Co. 157/Ladder Co. 80, Port Richmond, a visiting priest gave a blessing. About 10 neighbors of the firehouse stopped by with flowers and thank-you cards, said a firefighter, who asked to remain anonymous.

On the South Shore last night, firefighters went about their duties much like any other day. While well-wishers trickled into some firehouses, others received no visitors at all.

"A few people came by to drop off cards or just to thank us," Capt.Thomas Pigott of Engine Co. 162/Ladder Co. 82 in Great Kills, said last night. "It's not necessarily usual when that happens anymore." Kacey Semler, Glenn Nyback and Tim Gray are news reporters with the Advance. They can be reached at semler@siadvance.com, nyback@siadvance.com and gray@siadvance.com